solid western RPGs

[rentner]

Old man in his 50s looking at early retirement here. I made this thread to compile a list of solid western RPGs, with your help. Here's a list of things I like in RPGs, after 40 years of playing them:

- party based and isometric are my favorites.
- good combat
_____- TOEE mechanics and BG2 stratagems encounters is about perfect for party combat
_____- I also enjoyed the expeditions conquistador mechanics.
_____- Gothic 2 attack / parry / wait with very strong opponents was excellent for Third person RPGs.
_____- control over speed, I don't want an ARPG clickfest like Diablo 2/3.
- solid world building (e.g. gothic 2), things happen for a reason, the world doesn't revolve around the player.
- western art, none of the asian/cartoon/animal weirdness, can't do ASCII or extra blocky art anymore as my eyes get tired quickly. Knights of the Chalice level is as low as I can go without getting a headache.
- good story without walls of text or modern descriptive writing (pillars of eternity, numenera, why use teatric form in a game? ). If I want a novel I have plenty in my library. Also no childish writing (most of the recent stuff has a tendency to it), political inaneness (eg. siege of dragonspear, wasteland 2) and try-hard grimness (banner saga) ... it just shows a complete lack of talent and decoupling from sane human interactions.
- I enjoy exploration but not hiking.
- puzzles or ok as long as they are not overdone or gimmicky. I'm not a big blobber fan.
- great atmosphere is a bonus (e.g. icewind dale, diablo I)

Already played :
- all golden era games (ssi, darklands, etc)
- baldur's gate I, II, ascension, tob, all mods
- icewind dale I, II, all mods
- gothic 1, 2 + addon, 3 (needed 100 mods), risen 1 was okish for the first part, risen 2/3 were poor.
- toee + temple+ + mods
- fallouts
- arcanum
- kotc
- neverwinter nights + expansions. Passable for DnD fans only.
- masquerade bloodlines.
- ultima series
- inquisitor (a bit more budget would've made wonders here)
- age of wonders 1,2,3
- disciples 1,2, the last one (3) was trash.
- deus ex series
- dragon age origins, the rest are trash
- expeditions conquistador and vikings
- spiderweb games. too drawn out for me.
- shadowruns (barely got through returns/hong kong because of the writing)
- pillars of eternity (first part was very good, I was really into it and then the writing/backers/story/forced class balance made it fall off a cliff).
- kings bounty was fun but very childish.
- planescape torment (good) + numenera (uninstalled after 2 hours, what a failure)
- uninstalled tyranny after 2 hours... just atrocious
- divinity original sin. forced it for about 20 hours, but it was just boring in terms of story/writing/world creation/opponents.
- might and magic series
- banner saga. I greatly enjoyed the mechanical innovation in the combat system but the story/world was written by a 10 year old.
- oblivion, skyrim .. just boring.
- dark souls, diablo 2, 3 are action games masquerading as rpgs
- age of decadence. What a nice gem!

I'm tired of all this adhd melodramatic every-opinion-is-right weird-is-interesting try-hard-mature crap that has flooded the market in the past decade. Help an old man out with solid no-bullshit games.

 

[Abu Antar]

Off the top of my head:
Divine Divinity, Divinity 2, Underrail, Alpha Protocol, The Witcher, Xcom (not really rpg, but worth a shot), NWN 2 for SoZ and MotB, Lionheart: Legacy Crusader, starts out strong the gets worse, Lords of Xulima, Serpent in the Staglands, Blackguards, Dead State, Drakensang: The River of Time, Dungeon Rats, The Dwarf Run, Legends of Eisenwald and its standalone expansion, Game of Thrones, Hard West, Of Orcs and Men, Quest for Glory, Heroine's Quest, Star Wars: KOTOR II, Summoner, Thief, 1-3

Can't be arsed to do a deeper post.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

You've listed pretty much all of my favourite CRPG in that first post, except for the Wizardry series (and Daggerfall, which was already mentioned). If it's not an omission on your part, you may want to give them a try.

 

[Abu Antar]

Thief, 1-3

I wouldn't really call Thief an RPG series but it is really damn good regardless.

I know, but I think there is a chance that he might enjoy them if he liked Deus Ex.

 

[fantadomat]

Thief, 1-3

I wouldn't really call Thief an RPG series but it is really damn good regardless.

Well it does succeed at making you roleplay as a thief.

 

[Lilura]

- neverwinter nights + expansions. Passable for DnD fans only.

But ToEE isn't? Try getting into custom NWN adventure modules and campaigns, you stupid old idiot.

And Jagged Alliance 2.

 

[V_K]

At your age, you shouldn't look for solid. Stick to liquid.

 

[rentner]

Morrowind is pretty good if you haven't played that yet. Spiders has made quite a few action-RPG games. I wouldn't say their games are top tier but I did enjoy The Technomancer quite a bit but it is a flawed gem. System Shock 1 and 2 might be worth trying out. Daggerfall is old but it's still a really good RPG game, use Daggerfall Setup if you want to play it as it comes with extra bugfixes and improvements.

Played both daggerfall and morrowind, I'll check The Technomancer out.

Off the top of my head:
Divine Divinity, Divinity 2, Underrail, Alpha Protocol, The Witcher, Xcom (not really rpg, but worth a shot), NWN 2 for SoZ and MotB, Lionheart: Legacy Crusader, starts out strong the gets worse, Lords of Xulima, Serpent in the Staglands, Blackguards, Dead State, Drakensang: The River of Time, Dungeon Rats, The Dwarf Run, Legends of Eisenwald and its standalone expansion, Game of Thrones, Hard West, Of Orcs and Men, Quest for Glory, Heroine's Quest, Star Wars: KOTOR II, Summoner, Thief, 1-3
Can't be arsed to do a deeper post.

Played bolded. Got bored with italic.
Dungeon Rats and Lionheart look very interesting.
Hard west reminds me of a bit of an older goodie, Silent Storm, but doesn't look as interesting.

You've listed pretty much all of my favourite CRPG in that first post, except for the Wizardry series (and Daggerfall, which was already mentioned). If it's not an omission on your part, you may want to give them a try.

Unfortunately I've played the life out of Wizardry series and Daggerfall when they came out back in the day. I remember that Diablo vs Daggerfall year, fun times.

- neverwinter nights + expansions. Passable for DnD fans only.

But ToEE isn't? Try getting into custom NWN adventure modules and campaigns, you stupid old idiot.
And Jagged Alliance 2.

Anybody older then 40 who plays computer games has played JA2. Also why am I an idiot when TOEE enables you to completely control all characters, to use all the rules and mechanics of DnD, in a much prettier environment, with arguably one of the best soundtracks in RPG games? Dnd isn't designed for a single character and it showed a lot in Neverwinter, where everything was about overpowering and not about out-manouvering the opponent. Also the NWN 1 campaign was extremely weak. I do agree that some of the NWN modules are good, but it is so frustrating to lack complete control over the party, to fight with the camera, rtwp for a single character ... it's just a drain compared to superior games.

At your age, you shouldn't look for solid. Stick to liquid.

at my age you've stopped caring 25 years ago and you just laugh at life

 

[555]

Have you checked the top 50 cRPG sticky?

 

[Sloul]

You mentioned some strategy games (Disciples and Age of Wonders) so mayhaps you could try:

- Obvs Master of Mana
- Alpha Centauri
- Master of Orion 1-2
- Silent Storm (multiple entry, all worth it) on that note, i always wanted to try Hammer and Sickle but didn't manage to find a seller (it's suppose to be better than Silent storm), also watch for mods, there are numerous mods that are great additions to this serie.
- UFO: Aftershock , there are 2 other entries to the serie. The first one, is imo, the most interesting in term of ambiant but it is quite lacking in comparison to Aftershock when it comes to mechanics. And the last one might be better than Aftershock in term of mechanics but its design is ugly as crap.

As some sort of RTS I would say Total War is a great serie. Medieval 2: Kingdoms is the most fruitful when it comes to mod.

And I forgot to mention Neo Scavenger as an rpg.
Maybe even Stalker since you didn't mention it in your post.

 

[Sranchammer]

The answer is: none

 

[waterdeep]

Realms of Arkania HD

 

[thekdawg21]

Is Hammer and Sickle any good at all? I remember it was crap, but I was reading horrible review sites when it came out.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Realms of Arkania HD

Good man.


Also:
Expedtions Viking
Legends of Eisenwald and Eisenwald: Bloody November or whatever.

Is Hammer and Sickle any good at all? I remember it was crap, but I was reading horrible review sites when it came out.

It's a fun game, quite unforgiving if you go full retard.
Here, http://www.tacticularcancer.com/content.php?id=5


And you, geezer fella, Abu Antar pretty much has you covered.

 

[thekdawg21]

Yup, I was reading CGW back then. Thanks! Got something to play now.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

And if your reflexes hold up somewhat, Mount and Blade: Warband.

 

[Morkar Left]

Things that weren't already mentioned:
- Pirates of the Carribean (with New Horizons mod) or Sea Dogs: To Each His Own - Pirate games
- Wizardry 6,7,8, maybe Grimoire, Swords and Sorcery Underworld (but Blobbers)
- Amberstar, Ambermoon (Amiga Emulator, it's easier than you think)
- Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (good action combat, basically you, one other constant partymember who can level up and two henchmen)
- RoA / DSA games (old or new ones)
- Darklands (needs some time to get used to it, level up your goons against bandits and then get into the story)
- Two Worlds (Diablo 3d in open world)
- Space Rangers 2 (Genre mix with rpg elements and open play which makes it rpg-like)
- Planet's Edge (old-school sci-fi rpg with graphics on KotC level, but partymembers can't level up afair)
- Wasteland 1 remastered version; still pretty playable
- Mordheim: squad tactics game with leveling up, maybe consider Battle Brothers (haven't played)
- Stellar Tactics when it's done (Early Access, seems to shape up nicely)
- Shadowrun Dragonfall: it's the best of the SR games

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

Off the top of my head:
Divine Divinity, Divinity 2, Underrail, Alpha Protocol, The Witcher, Xcom (not really rpg, but worth a shot), NWN 2 for SoZ and MotB, Lionheart: Legacy Crusader, starts out strong the gets worse, Lords of Xulima, Serpent in the Staglands, Blackguards, Dead State, Drakensang: The River of Time, Dungeon Rats, The Dwarf Run, Legends of Eisenwald and its standalone expansion, Game of Thrones, Hard West, Of Orcs and Men, Quest for Glory, Heroine's Quest, Star Wars: KOTOR II, Summoner, Thief, 1-3
Can't be arsed to do a deeper post.

Played bolded. Got bored with italic.
Dungeon Rats and Lionheart look very interesting.
Hard west reminds me of a bit of an older goodie, Silent Storm, but doesn't look as interesting.

You've either completed or tried all the good ones that fit in the bracket you're interested in. I see you're willing to expand your boundaries slightly beyond RPG, so I'll have a stab at recommending Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood on the off-chance you've missed that one. Like King's Bounty it feels a bit childish but is just full of love for what it's doing. It's isometric and requires team-based tactical problem resolution. As the game progresses you get the opportunity to complete missions bloodless (though lots of bloody noses) victories if you know what you're doing. It's a mission-based tactical game like Commandos or Desperadoes but feels more like an RPG than those due to the copious amount of humour and middle ages setting.

It's also a quite beautiful game with zero bugs and has a very satisfying sense of reward for endeavour:

 

[tindrli]

maybe you could try hard west. i didnt play it but it seems decent

 

[Bocian]

And if your reflexes hold up somewhat, Mount and Blade: Warband.

Best choice ever, because you can't really go wrong here. If you don't like single player, there's multiplayer (still alive with a lot of players), if you don't like medieval setting, there's Napoleonic mod (and loads of others), if you can't fight in melee, there are bows/guns as well.

Is Hammer and Sickle any good at all? I remember it was crap, but I was reading horrible review sites when it came out.

Underrated gem with very interesting and unique storyline, because where else we can play as a Soviet spy in Germany?

Besides, I didn't see NWN1 on your list, give it a try - especially with custom modules. There's a site with a list of still active servers, if you're interested in multiplayer.

 

[Gregz]

Old man in his 50s looking at early retirement here. I made this thread to compile a list of solid western RPGs, with your help. Here's a list of things I like in RPGs, after 40 years of playing them:

Damn, you've already played so many good ones. You also appear to be a very staunch 'storyfag' (local language), which makes things even harder.

If you can venture into non isometeric, I suggest the following not on your list:

King of Dragon Pass
Might & Magic VI & VII
System Shock 2
Mount & Blade: Warband
Dragon Quest VIII
Stranger of Sword City
Underrail
Zangband
The Dwarf Run
The Bard's Tale (original)
Wasteland

 

[tindrli]

If you are gona play Mount n Blade Warband install one of those mods
Prophesy of Pendor
Floris

 

[Tito Anic]

Geneforge 2,3,4

 

[buru5]

Dragon Quest VIII

 

[Gregz]

Great game...but yeah, not western.